Syracuse Orange Lacrosse! There you are, right where I left you!
With that other dumb sport over, we can now focus on the real sport of gladiators...lacrosse. And what a perfect time to get back into the swing of things. The No. 7 Syracuse Orange host upstate rival, the No. 2 Cornell Big Red in a huge regular-season showdown with post-season implications.
Of course, all eyes will be on the match-up between all-world attackman Rob Pannell and all-world defenseman Brian Megill, both of whom have their own scores to settle.
Syracuse might lead the series 61-35-1 but Cornell's won the last two in a time when there's been a serious shift in power in college lacrosse, especially in the Northeast. Need to know how big a deal this game has become? College Crosse's Matt Glaude fills you in...
Cornell-Syracuse just isn't "a lacrosse thing"; it's a "Central New York thing." It's now ingrained in the culture of the region differently than it has been in the past, and it has adopted the thrust of Central New York itself. I guess the easiest way to explain the rivalry is like this: Instead of going to Dinosaur BBQ and only recommending the pulled pork plate, you now have arugments about whether the proper recommendation is the pulled pork plate or the brisket plate. And some folks just go for the pulled pork-brisket combination platter because it's all so good.
CC also has a fancy infographic full of numbers and stats and stuff to make sure you're aware of how both programs stack up all-time.
The game gets going at 6:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU. Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.
G'ORANGE!